Interstatelovesong Seeks Initial Stakes Win in Busher

For a die-hard Green Bay Packers fan like Paul Farr, it was hard to watch his favorite team squander an 18-point lead and lose to the arch-rival Chicago Bears in the Jan. 10 opening round of the NFL playoffs.

A month later, Farr suffered another heartbreaking loss, this time on the frozen tundra of Aqueduct Racetrack.

After setting the early pace, Farr's homebred filly Interstatelovesong  engaged in a heated stretch duel with Two Bits  in the Ruthless Stakes at the Big A, but fell short by a neck with the third-place finisher another 10 lengths behind.

Off that narrow Feb. 6 loss in her stakes debut, the daughter of Bolt d'Oro   will try to cement a spot in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) as she faces four rivals in the $200,000 Busher Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Feb. 28 at Aqueduct.

"She's a big filly and has done fantastically well in her three starts so far. We have very high hopes for her. We think that she could be very talented. I'm delighted for her owner/breeder Paul Farr to have a really good filly like this," trainer Tom Morley said. "Race circumstances probably played against her a little bit last time. She's got a fabulous mind. She's very ratable, very tractable, and she's also fast."

The one-turn mile Busher usually offers 50-25-15-10-5 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points, meaning a victory Saturday should assure her—or any of the entrants—of a spot in the 14-horse field for the grade 1 showdown at Churchill Downs. However, as a race in the Championship Series of the Road to the Kentucky Oaks, it is subject to the field size rule that proportionally awards only 75% of the available points if the race is run with a five-horse field. If the race is run with four or fewer horses, then only 50% of the points will be distributed.

Farr, whose Titletown Racing Stables colors are Packers green and yellow with a football on the silks, bred Interstatelovesong out of the Distorted Humor mare Gentle Humor and she is a full sister to stakes-placed Navy Man.

In her first two starts, Interstatelovesong was second in her Nov. 20 debut and then romped by 5 lengths in a Dec. 26 maiden race, both at the Big A.

The field also include Cash Run Stakes runner-up Nycon  and maiden winners Current Yield  and Paradise . Paradise and Blazing Brat  are cross-entered in the Davona Dale Stakes (G2) the same day at Gulfstream Park.

Older sprinters clash in Tom Fool

Saturday's card, which is topped by the Gotham Stakes (G3) for 3-year-olds, also features the $175,000 Tom Fool Stakes (G3) for older sprinters.

Morley will take aim at a stakes double with LJSS Thoroughbreds, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, and Adelphi Racing Club's One Nine Hundred , a son of Dialed In   coming off a decisive allowance optional claiming win in fast time.

The field of five for the 6-furlong sprint also includes A. Bianco Holding's Acoustic Ave , a New York-bred Maclean's Music   gelding trained by Linda Rice, who is utterly dominating the Big A's winter meet. 

Heading into this week's racing, Rice has 39 wins, which is more than the combined total of 33 belonging to the five trainers second through sixth on the wins list.